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5 Scary Easy Ways to Provide Great Customer Service

Forget about ghosts, goblins, and ghouls. For business owners, their nightmares start with unhappy customers. From bad online reviews to disgruntled phone calls, businesses can’t always avoid a haunting situation — but they can always bounce back with great customer service tactics.

It’s simple. Excellent customer care creates lifelong loyal customers. Think about the ones who will be repeat buyers and the ones who will refer their friends and family.

It all starts with a smile (and a whole lot of patience), but there’s a much more you can do to create a good customer service experience. Here are five scary easy ways to get started.

Personalize as Much as You Can

Customers already expect some level of personalization, so they’ll see right through a one-size-fits-all approach. Every interaction should be tailored to your customer’s needs, like remembering their coffee order, writing a thank you note, or using their feedback to improve processes.

Don’t be fooled; these customer experience investments pay off. According to the Harvard Business Review, personalization can deliver five to eight times the ROI on marketing spend and can lift sales by 10% or more. And that’s much better than only a smile at checkout.

Deliver That Day

Now more than ever, customers are turning to businesses that can provide them fast, convenient, and flexible customer service. It could be a 30-minute oil change, a two-hour furniture delivery, or a within-the-hour flower bouquet delivery. In fact, 25% of customers are willing to pay a premium for same-day or instant delivery.

No matter the service, delivering that day goes above and beyond customer expectations — and is guaranteed to keep them coming back.

Listen and Respond to Customers Immediately

The biggest customer service mistake you could make is not responding as quickly as possible. But first, it starts with listening. Not only does it mean hearing what your customers are saying, it’s also having empathy for the issue they’re facing. Most importantly, remember to use positive language instead of negative.

No matter if a customer asks for help or tries to learn more about your business, it’s important to answer immediately — even if it’s just to say you’re looking into the situation. That attentiveness alone will show them that you’re a business who doesn’t only care about the bottom line, but that you also care for the customer.

Keep It Easy

Great customer service means keeping it simple for your customers. Friction can be a killer, so strive to make every process an easy one. No matter if it’s getting in touch with customer support, buying online, or shipping an item. By removing obstacles in the customer journey, you’ll give them a clear path to an answer (and hopefully a sale).

Own the Issue… Then Make It Right

You’d be surprised how far owning your mistakes go with your customers. If you didn’t ship something on time, sent the wrong size, or didn’t give customers the attention they required, own up to your mistake and apologize. The customer is never at fault, and they’ll appreciate your self-awareness more than you think.

And of course, don’t forget to make it right. No matter if that means sending a new product via rush shipping or handwriting a note, customers will remember how you recovered — not your mistake.